Why?
by Muggle Jane
Summary: Audrey finds something she wishes she hadn't and can only ask one question. Why? Angsty oneshot for Sam for the GGE2014!


**A/N: For Sam, hope you enjoy!**

Audrey was staring at the note in her hands without really seeing it. She'd read it so many times that she knew the words by heart, but she still couldn't let it go.

She'd found it that morning while she was picking up around the flat. Percy was very tidy, for the most part, but he had a habit of not emptying his pockets before his clothes needed to be washed. So every Tuesday, Audrey would gather all of the laundry together, empty all of Percy's pockets, and spend the morning doing laundry.

Only this Tuesday, it was now going on noon and the jumble of clothes sat forgotten behind on her the bed.

She read the note one more time.

_Mon amour,_

_I'll be in town on Saturday. I've made my excuses to Bill and Fleur, I hope to see you at the usual place._

_-G_

The note wasn't too hard to decipher. The usual place- that meant this had happened before, and more than once. The initial G and the French address- Fleur's little sister's name was Gabrielle. And Saturday. Percy had told her he needed to be out of town on Saturday for a meeting.

She wanted desperately to cry. She could feel the tears as a heavy ache behind her eyes, feel the thick lump in her throat that made swallowing painful. And yet... Nothing.

Audrey stood up and went to the full-length mirror that was stuck behind their door, peering at herself critically. She was older than she was when they'd first married, but then so was he. Her hips were a little thicker now, thanks to their two daughters. Her breasts weren't as firm as they used to be. Her stomach was softer, heavier, lined with stretchmarks. But she was still pretty. Her eyes still sparkled when she smiled. Her hair was still thick and brown and smooth. She wasn't the same young woman that she was they'd first married, but he told her enough that he still thought she was beautiful.

_Was he lying?_

The thought stung. Was he picturing a blond part-Veela ten years her junior when they made love? Was he conjuring the image of someone else behind his eyelids when they kissed?

And how much of the "Ministry business" he'd gone on over the past- what, weeks? months? years?- had actually been trips to "the usual place?"

At least the girls were at school. She didn't think was up to pasting a smile on her face and talking about their classes and their crushes and who the toughest professor was.

* * *

She was sitting at the table when she heard the noise of the floo. The laundry had all been done in an effort to distract herself. The kitchen had been re-scrubbed, the silver from Aunt Muriel had all been polished, she'd even starting rearranging the kitchen cupboards before giving up halfway through. And now, dishes and food items strewn about behind her, she sat at the table with a large, half-empty glass of sherry and an almost physical pain in her heart.

Percy knew something was wrong from the moment he saw her, she could see it in his face. "What's wrong, darling?" he asked.

She was still holding the note. Silently, she slid it across the freshly cleaned kitchen table towards him.

He came over and picked it up. He read it, frowned, glanced up at her, and read it again. "It's not what it looks like."

"You don't even respect me enough to tell the truth?" Her voice was low and bitter, cold and hard, and he flinched. "Then again, I guess you didn't respect me enough not to stay faithful to our marriage, so I probably shouldn't be surprised. She looked up at him and there was an unfamiliar emptiness in her eyes. "How long, Percy?"

"Three years."

"I see." Three years. What had happened three years ago? She frowned, trying to remember. Nothing. Nothing had happened three years ago. There was no reason for him to be looking outside of what she had thought was a very happy marriage. "Why?"

He flinched again and sat down silently in the chair across the table from her. "I... I don't know," he admitted at last, his voice quiet and defeated. "She's a Veela, I just couldn't help myself."

"Really? I should probably floo Molly and all of your brothers' wives then and let them know that their husbands are probably having an affair with a girl even younger than Ginny is, because apparently she's just that irresistible."

Percy blanched. "No, I just meant..." he trailed off, seeming to realize that whatever he said was probably not going to be received very well.

"Am I too old? Is my body too soft from having our children? Why, Percy? Why?"

"I don't know," he said again.

They sat in silence for a long time, him staring at the table and her staring at him. At last he asked, "Are you going to leave me?"

"Yes? No? I don't know, Percy. What would you tell the children?"

"Tell the children?" he repeated, seeming confused.

"How would you explain to them why you weren't here when they came home on their holidays?"

"Me, leave?" he asked, as though he'd never thought of it as a possibility before.

"I'm not going to. This is my home. I wasn't the one sleeping with some French whore while lying to their wife." Her face took on a grim expression. "Your brother-in-law is the Head of the Auror Department. What do you think he would say if I flooed him and told him that I wanted you out of my home because you decided that it was more important to spread the legs of some blond little bitch than keep the vows you made to your wife?"

He looked like he was going to defend Gabrielle, but then abruptly decided not to. "Don't tell them." He was almost pleading with her.

"Why not? Are you more concerned about how they feel about it than you do how I'm feeling right now? Do you really think so little of me, Percy?"

He stared at her, the pain in his eyes just a sliver of what she was feeling. "I'm going to go," he said.

"That's a good idea, I think. If you go to 'the usual place' I'm sure you'll have someone there on Saturday who will help you feel all better." She looked away from him then, and after a time the front door opened and closed again.

At last the tears came, spilling in hot, silent waves down her cheeks.


End file.
